Beyond the Basics: 3 Advanced SEO Tactics to Outrank Your Competition

By: The One Click Enterprise Team | March 10, 2025

So, you’ve covered the fundamentals of SEO. You're using relevant keywords in your content, your website titles are optimized, and your Google Business Profile is complete. You've built a solid foundation. But you might be looking at the Google search results and wondering, "Why are my competitors still ranking ahead of me?"

The truth is, once the basics are in place, the real competition begins. Winning the top spots on Google requires moving beyond simple tactics and embracing a more advanced, strategic approach.

If you're ready to take your online presence to the next level, here are three powerful SEO strategies that professionals use to dominate the search results.

1. Build Authority with Topic Clusters and Pillar Pages

• The Basic Approach: Writing individual blog posts targeting different, unrelated keywords (e.g., one post about "cloud backup," another about "website design tips").

• The Advanced Strategy: Instead of targeting single keywords, you aim to own an entire topic. You do this by creating a "Pillar Page" — a long, comprehensive guide to a broad topic (e.g., "The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing for South African SMEs").
  Then, you create multiple shorter "Cluster" posts that cover specific sub-topics in more detail (e.g., "5 Tips for a Holiday PPC Campaign," "How to Get Started with SEO," "Understanding Google Analytics"). The crucial step is that all these cluster posts link back to your main pillar page.

• Why it Works: This strategy signals to Google that you have deep authority and expertise on an entire subject. Instead of seeing you as an expert on just one keyword, Google sees you as a comprehensive resource for the whole topic, boosting the rankings for all the related pages simultaneously.

2. Seize "Position Zero" by Optimizing for Featured Snippets

• The Basic Approach: Trying to rank number one in the standard list of search results.

• The Advanced Strategy: Aiming for the Featured Snippet. This is the answer box that often appears above the number one organic result, sometimes called "Position Zero." It directly answers the searcher's question, and getting your content featured there can lead to a massive increase in clicks and brand visibility.

• How to Do It:

  1. Identify Questions: Find out what common questions your customers are asking. A great place to look is the "People also ask" section on Google's search results page.

  2. Structure for Answers: Structure your content to directly answer these questions. Use the question as a clear heading (e.g., <h2>What is the best e-commerce platform for a small business?</h2>).

  3. Provide a Concise Answer: Immediately below the heading, provide a clear, direct, and concise answer in the form of a short paragraph, a numbered list, or a bulleted list. Google loves to pull these structured answers into the Featured Snippet box.

3. Dominate Local Search with E-E-A-T Signals

• The Basic Approach: Filling out your Google Business Profile.

• The Advanced Strategy: Proactively building signals that prove your E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This is a core part of how Google's quality raters evaluate websites, especially for local businesses.

• How to Build Local E-E-A-T:

  1. Cultivate Hyper-Local Backlinks: Go beyond getting links from just anywhere. Earn links from other well-respected local businesses and organisations. A link from the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce or a local community news site is incredibly valuable for local SEO.

  2. Ensure NAP Consistency: Your business Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) must be perfectly consistent across all major online directories in South Africa (e.g., Yellow Pages, Cylex, Brabys). Inconsistencies erode Google's trust in your location data.

  3. Master Your Google Reviews: Don't just wait for reviews to happen. Actively and ethically request reviews from your happy clients. Crucially, respond professionally to every single review—both positive and negative. This shows Google and potential customers that you are an engaged, trustworthy, and authoritative local business.

Winning the SEO Game

These advanced strategies require more effort than the basics, but that’s precisely why they are so effective—most of your competitors probably aren't doing them consistently. Moving beyond simple keywords and focusing on building authority, answering questions, and cementing your local reputation is how you win in today's competitive digital landscape.

Implementing advanced SEO requires time and expertise. At One Click Enterprise, this is what we live and breathe. If you're ready to take your Google rankings to the next level and outrank your competition in Gauteng, it's time for a deeper conversation.

Contact us today for a comprehensive SEO strategy session.